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March 11, 2026

Should I stay or should I go? Rural international students face housing, job crunch

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Brandon Dickson, PhD Candidate, Global Governance, Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo

From 2013-23, Canada’s international post-secondary student population more than doubled to more than one million per year by 2023.

Most of these students studied in Ontario, particularly in urban areas. But the high cost of living in urban areas across Canada, along with limited enrolments, meant there was a subsequent spike of international students also studying in rural regions across Canada.

Our research is exploring the supports that currently exist for international students in rural regions and the efficacy of these supports for retaining international students in those areas.

Recent cap on international students

In 2024, the federal government put a cap on the number of international students in Canada.

Ottawa framed the move as an attempt to alleviate housing shortages and protect international students from “bad actors,” including people who issued fraudulent acceptance letters.

A CBC investigation also found that governments have pursued international students to contribute to Canada’s workforce and also to attract revenues for underfunded colleges and universities — with no attention paid to the impact on housing.

The impact of the international student cap has reverberated across Canada. It resulted in a sharp decline in international students across the country, including in rural regions where there is an enduring need for skilled graduates in health care, technology and the skilled trades.

Rural retention of international students

There has been very little Canadian research on rural retention of international students, aside from retaining graduates with health-care skills.

Our exploratory survey, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in partnership with the Canadian Bureau of International Education, was piloted in a rural region in Atlantic Canada.

The survey asked international students who were attending or had graduated from the local university questions about their intention to stay in their study region after graduating, and factors that influence their decisions.

In total, 21 students completed the survey, and three of these students participated in a follow-up interview. We also interviewed two people who worked in international student support roles in the same region.

Housing insecurity was a determinant

Our preliminary findings show that housing security was the among the most significant factors driving international students’ decisions to stay or go in their rural region.

Students in our survey said finding suitable housing was one of the biggest challenges. Half of the respondents noted that lower housing prices were the most influential factor in their initial decision to study in a rural region. However, frustration with finding long-term accommodations posed significant challenges in choosing to stay. In some instances, this also affected even coming to begin studies in the first place.

One student noted they had to move three times between the summer of 2023 and October 2023 due to being unable to find suitable housing when they first arrived. They cited this stress as the key reason they were planning to leave the rural region.

Another international student said the lack of accommodations meant they almost had to cancel their acceptance, noting they signed their lease only a few hours before their flight to Canada. More than one-quarter of our study participants who were planning to leave the rural region noted the lack of housing as the key driver.

Unique rural employment challenges

More than one-third of international students in our survey initially planned to stay in their rural study region following graduation, but employment impacted this decision.

While for international students, the challenges of finding work post-graduation are widespread across Canada, participants in our study region noted unique challenges in rural areas.

Rural regions are often close-knit communities that rely on these ties when seeking employment, so much so that one of our research participants noted: “When locals meet each other, they’ll go, oh, who’s your father?” For international students, the more limited connections they have in communities correlates with the level of difficulty securing jobs.

Support programs

The Maritime rural region in our study had employment-related programming for recruiting, integrating and retaining international students. These include programs like one-time seminars on job searching or developing resumes, and longer internship opportunities.

Though international students in our survey unanimously noted that they knew such services existed, only three said they had accessed the programming. Those three students commented that these programs increased their sense of belonging and connection in the community.

One international student indicated that the connection from the community program resulted in post-graduation employment. The three students who accessed this programming said the most beneficial supports they accessed were immigration support, career advising and volunteering opportunities.

One interviewee who works in an international student support role described how one “study and stay” program receives far more applications from interested international students than it can accommodate. This provincially supported Atlantic Canada program provides tailored supports beyond the more general employment supports noted above.

Policies made staying complicated

Survey and interview findings also revealed that federal policies complicated efforts to stay in the rural region post-graduation.

One of the support people we interviewed noted how international students who want to stay in Canada often seek Express Permanent Residence, which requires a two-year, full-time employment contract.

Such an employment requirement is often incompatible with the short-term or part-time options available to students and new graduates.

This means international students are less likely to accept work in their fields, and may be required to move to urban areas or accept unskilled positions to find employment to meet these criteria.

Co-ordinated responses needed

We heard from international students that they want to stay and feel committed to rural regions. At the same time, students highlighted the challenge of transitioning from being a student who has access to university supports to being a community member without them.

Addressing housing and employment challenges requires co-ordinated responses in rural regions among universities, local government and industry.

Community-based supports that help recent graduates secure first jobs and offer opportunities for connection and networking are critical. Creative engagement is required across industries, sectors and the federal government to address federal policies for longer-duration work permits. For housing, incentivizing international student residency for landlords and local regions might help.

Housing and employment security appear to be the preliminary foundations for establishing and capitalizing on social and community connections. More research is needed to explore the successes in retaining international students and activating effective supports to do so.

Donna Kotsopoulos receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Ellyn Lyle receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Brandon Dickson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Should I stay or should I go? Rural international students face housing, job crunch – https://theconversation.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-rural-international-students-face-housing-job-crunch-276498

March 11, 2026

More Canadians are watching the Paralympics. Our research shows why that matters

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ann Pegoraro, Lang Chair in Sport Management, Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph

Nearly 31 million Canadians watched Team Canada compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina earlier this year. With the Paralympics underway, fandom research suggests that millions are expected to tune in again.

With Canada consistently one of the top three countries on the medal table at the Winter Paralympics, and its athletes producing incredible sporting moments, Canadians are in for a treat.

For many of us, the Paralympics are remembered through moments that resonate beyond sport itself. Canadian athletes have delivered performances that not only capture national attention but also challenge longstanding assumptions about disability and elite competition, from Brian McKeever becoming Canada’s most decorated Winter Paralympian to wheelchair basketball victories that electrified arenas during the 2024 Games.

As the Milano-Cortina 2026 Paralympics draws in a growing Canadian audience, understanding the impact of this fandom is important. This isn’t just about sport, it’s also about reshaping how Canadians think about disability.

Paralympic fandom remains understudied

The Paralympic Games are what is referred to as a mega-event in sports, joining the likes of the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. Yet the Paralympic fandom is understudied compared with other sport mega events.

The Olympics have drawn the attention of researchers for decades, with numerous studies on how fans consume the Games, what Olympic fandom means and how Olympic sponsors connect with fans. Similarly, researchers have spent significant time investigating football fandom and the FIFA World Cup.

But research on Paralympic audiences — including consumption, fandom, attitudes and effects — is limited.

This gap matters. The Paralympic Games are not simply another sporting event. They are one of the largest global platforms where disability, athletic excellence and national identity intersect.

Understanding how audiences engage with the Paralympics helps explain how sport can influence perceptions of disability, shape more inclusive narratives and mobilize support for parasport development.

More Canadians are Paralympic fans

Drawing on a national survey of Canadians conducted in partnership with the Canadian Paralympic Committee, we examined how fandom for the Paralympic Games relates to attitudes toward disability and social engagement.

We found that nearly 40 per cent of Canadians now consider themselves fans of the Paralympics, and seven in 10 believe Paralympic fandom is growing nationwide.

Canadians set viewership records for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, while the worldwide audience also grew, with more than 1.6 billion views on the social media channels of the International Paralympic Committee, an 81 per cent increase compared with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

With this growing fandom and viewership, Paralympians are providing unprecedented visibility for individuals with disabilities.

The widely successful International Paralympic Committee’s TikTok has also played an active role in attracting young fans, in particular, through edgy campaigns.

Sport as a catalyst for social change

Paralympians are extraordinary athletes. With the Paralympics drawing record viewership and increasing fandom, the Games are a powerful tool for societal change.

Research has shown that societal attitudes toward people with disabilities can shift positively when people watch and follow the Paralympic Games. We wanted to know how rising Paralympic fandom in Canada affects attitudes toward disability.

Preliminary results of our work indicate that Paralympic fans not only have more positive attitudes toward disability in society, but are also significantly more likely to engage in pro-social activities such as donating, raising awareness or advocating for people with disabilities.

Nine in 10 parasport fans in Canada reported engaging in pro-social behaviours, compared with seven in 10 Canadians overall.

The business case for Paralympic sponsorship

Just as brands are recognizing the return on investment of sponsoring women’s sports, the Paralympics are now poised to offer a similar opportunity.

Our research found that consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions all positively increase when they learn that a company sponsors the Paralympics. This increase is larger than similar intentions toward companies that sponsor the Olympics, with 24 per cent of Winter Paralympic fans reporting they made a purchase from a brand because of its Paralympic sponsorship.

Women’s sport fandom is also growing in Canada, and research demonstrates that women’s sports fans are more likely than men’s sports fans to watch or follow the Paralympics. This provides a growing and lucrative audience that could motivate companies to get involved.

What this means going into Milano-Cortina

The rise in fandom suggests Canadians will once again be watching in large numbers. And this is increasingly shaping how we understand disability, excellence and inclusion in sport.

Expanded broadcast coverage, increasing social media engagement and stronger corporate partnerships are helping bring the Paralympics and Paralympians to wider audiences than ever before.

For fans, the Games offer an opportunity to witness extraordinary athletic performances. They also provide a moment to reflect on how sport can shape the way disability is understood in society.

Ann Pegoraro is the Director of the International Institute for Sport Business and Leadership who conducted the research referenced herein. She receives funding from SSHRC.

Ryan Snelgrove receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. More Canadians are watching the Paralympics. Our research shows why that matters – https://theconversation.com/more-canadians-are-watching-the-paralympics-our-research-shows-why-that-matters-277035

March 11, 2026

Les sans-abri sont encore stigmatisés. Voici comment mieux soutenir leur participation démocratique

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Michel Parazelli, Professeur associé retraité en travail social, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

On ne reconnait pas toujours les personnes en situation d’itinérance comme appartenant à la communauté citoyenne.Ce manque de reconnaissance a des répercussions sociales considérables. Pour les premières concernées d’abord, dont on ne respecte pas toujours les droits, et qu’on prive de voix et de liens, au risque d’aggraver leur précarité, leur souffrance et leur mortalité. Pour la société ensuite, qui entretient une gestion de crise perpétuelle, fragilise les liens sociaux et renonce à la contribution politique de celles et ceux qu’elle relègue à ses marges.

À la suite d’une vaste consultation sur l’itinérance et la cohabitation sociale, l’Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) a déposé son rapport en juillet 2025. Cette démarche de consultation a rejoint 3903 personnes oeuvrant en milieu communautaire et institutionnel, ainsi que des personnes en situation d’itinérance.

Sur les 22 recommandations formulées par les commissaires, la première exhorte la Ville de Montréal à reconnaitre formellement « que les Montréalaises et Montréalais en situation d’itinérance sont des citoyennes et citoyens au même titre que ceux qui sont logés », et d’agir en conséquence.

Des violations multiples de droits

Cette première recommandation du rapport de consultation de l’OCPM révèle quelque chose de la façon dont on traite les personnes qui sont à la marge des circuits formels de la production, de la consommation et de l’habitat. Les faits tendent à montrer que les droits des personnes en situation d’itinérance ne sont pas toujours respectés.

Les démantèlements des campements de sans-abri qui aggravent leurs conditions se poursuivent, malgré l’avis de la défenseure fédérale du logement. En 2024, elle exigeait des gouvernements qu’ils respectent les droits et la dignité des personnes résidant dans les campements.
Les pratiques de profilage social des policiers perdurent, malgré la reconnaissance par la Commission des droits de la personne et la jeunesse depuis 2009, que la «stigmatisation des sans-abri dans les normes et règlements de la police et le profilage qui s’ensuit porte atteinte au droit de ces personnes à la sauvegarde de leur
dignité sans discrimination fondée sur la condition sociale.»
Les organismes communautaires souffrent de sous-financement chronique, malgré qu’ils soient les principaux intervenants sur le terrain auprès des sans-abri.

Le recours au privé pour gérer la sécurité publique et la production de logements abordables croît. Or, son modèle économique repose sur la maximisation des profits, ce qui crée un conflit d’intérêts avec la visée d’abordabilité et de pérennité hors marché du logement social].
Le taux de mortalité des personnes en situation d’itinérance a augmenté en 2024, selon le bureau du coroner. Les données montrent que plusieurs décès auraient pu être évités s’il y avait eu des services de santé adaptés.
L’adoption du projet de loi 103, en novembre 2025, même s’il menace les services de consommation supervisée. Une majorité d’acteurs du terrain ont qualifié cette législation de dangereux recul dans la lutte contre la crise des surdoses.

Chacun de ces exemples montre que le respect des droits et de la dignité des personnes en situation d’itinérance est loin d’être garanti.

Une gestion inadaptée et des choix politiques aggravants

S’agit-il d’une simple défaillance de l’action publique appelant l’optimisation d’une gestion plus agile et efficace, comme l’ont affirmé certains candidats lors des dernières élections municipales ?

Dans son rapport, l’OCPM souligne bien des problèmes majeurs de coordination entre les silos institutionnels qui interviennent en itinérance. Toutefois, l’examen plus attentif des problèmes auxquels sont confrontés les acteurs sociaux montréalais tend à montrer que le problème est structurel. Il s’agit d’un constat communément partagé de l’impuissance des acteurs résultant d’une gestion permanente de solutions provisoires.

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Il existe bien quelques avancées sur le plan de la disponibilité de logements adaptés, ou de pratiques de cohabitation sociale apaisées, mais celles-ci ne réussissent pas à sortir de l’urgence. La raison en est que cette situation de crise qui s’étend à plusieurs municipalités québécoises est surtout le produit de choix politiques antérieurs avec ses effets délétères. On peut mentionner ici le retrait du gouvernement fédéral du financement du logement social depuis les années 1990, l’incapacité du provincial à construire suffisamment de logements sociaux hors marché, ainsi qu’à améliorer l’accès aux services sociaux et de santé adaptés.

D’une prise en charge gestionnaire à une prise en compte citoyenne

Un autre constat issu de ce rapport met en lumière l’exclusion des personnes en situation d’itinérance des décisions qui les concernent.

C’est pourquoi certaines des recommandations de l’OCPM proposent d’inclure des personnes en situation d’itinérance au sein de comités consultatifs aux niveaux municipal et local. Il s’agit de donner des avis sur l’ensemble des pratiques de gouvernance en matière d’itinérance. Cette orientation suscitant l’engagement citoyen représente une rupture avec la logique dominante de prise en charge des solutions par les gestionnaires.

En situation d’urgence, les gestionnaires des services sociaux et municipaux oeuvrant en itinérance agissent la plupart du temps pour le bien d’autrui, mais sans le point de vue d’autrui. Par exemple, l’augmentation de la surveillance policière, les démantèlements des campements et l’aménagement des haltes-chaleur étaient souvent justifiés par des arguments de sécurité des occupants, même au prix d’une plus grande marginalisation. Cette approche de « prise en charge » s’oppose à une pratique plus dialogique à visée démocratique.

En travail social, cette seconde approche est qualifiée de « prise en compte », en phase avec la reconnaissance de la citoyenneté d’une personne, même celle qui tend à émerger dans la marge sociale. Dès lors, plutôt que d’agir uniquement sur les comportements jugés inadéquats ou dérangeants des personnes en situation d’itinérance, il s’agit d’adopter une posture de « prévenance ». L’idée consiste à aller au-devant de ces personnes pour considérer leur point de vue sur leur propre situation, dont l’analyse qu’elles font des actions entreprises par d’autres acteurs sur leurs propres conditions d’existence sociale.

Ce dialogue continu permet de mieux orienter des pratiques d’intervention en fonction des désirs et besoins négociés avec les personnes en situation d’itinérance. Cette rencontre de l’autre demeure une exigence éthique et politique d’une gouvernance municipale à visée démocratique.

Soutenir l’organisation de collectifs

En rupture avec l’ancienne administration, la nouvelle mairesse Martinez Ferrada a déposé un plan de gestion des campements urbains pour des sites autorisés. Les principes évoqués dans ce plan signalent bien l’intention de la Ville de suivre la première recommandation de l’OCPM : respecter la dignité et les droits des personnes citoyennes en situation d’itinérance. À l’heure actuelle, le protocole, qui se veut évolutif, ne prévoit toutefois aucune disposition concrète visant à instaurer un dialogue continu avec les personnes occupant les campements. Au-delà des intentions, il est actuellement difficile de voir comment la Ville reconnaitra leur pouvoir d’agir citoyen si le droit de s’exprimer sur les décisions affectant les conditions d’existence des campements demeure à l’état de vœux pieux.

Agir en conséquence d’une reconnaissance de la citoyenneté des personnes en situation d’itinérance impliquerait de les inclure dans la négociation du protocole et de sa mise en place sur les sites concernés. Le défi n’est donc pas que technique, mais avant tout relationnel et politique.

La recherche sociale a déjà montré l’intérêt de prendre en compte le point de vue des personnes marginalisées sur les mesures et les politiques qui les concernent. Cet exercice contribue non seulement à obtenir un portrait plus objectif des situations, mais aussi à développer un rapport positif à soi de ces personnes, à renforcer la confiance en elles-mêmes, et à susciter le désir d’améliorer collectivement leur situation avec leurs pairs.

Bref, il est certes urgent de rappeler aux gouvernements provincial et fédéral leur responsabilité face à cet échec social. Il est tout aussi important de soutenir l’organisation collective des personnes en situation d’itinérance pour qu’elles puissent négocier ensemble leur place sociale à l’image des autres groupes sociaux marginalisés au Québec.

Michel Parazelli ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Les sans-abri sont encore stigmatisés. Voici comment mieux soutenir leur participation démocratique – https://theconversation.com/les-sans-abri-sont-encore-stigmatises-voici-comment-mieux-soutenir-leur-participation-democratique-272411

March 11, 2026

Patriots and loyalists both rallied around St. Patrick’s Day during the Revolutionary War

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Cian T. McMahon, Professor of History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

At the end of a bitter winter at Valley Forge, George Washington ordered an extra glass of grog on St. Patrick’s Day for every man, ‘and thus all made merry and were good friends.’ iStock/Getty Images Plus

The Continental Army’s winter encampment at Valley Forge, between December 1777 and June 1778, is the stuff of legend. Chased out of Philadelphia by the British Army, George Washington and over 12,000 American troops retreated to Valley Forge, where they spent six long months harried by hunger, disease and the bitter cold.

In this context of frayed nerves and short tempers, a scuffle arose when some of the native-born soldiers antagonized the Irish recruits by dragging an effigy of a “stuffed Paddy” through camp on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1778. The Irish, outraged at the sight of their patron saint being mocked, rose up to meet the challenge with their fists.

But George Washington quickly responded by claiming, “I, too, am a lover of St. Patrick’s Day.” He ordered an extra glass of grog for every man, “and thus all made merry and were good friends.”

By the late 1770s, people had been commemorating the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death – reputedly on March 17, 461 – for over a thousand years. Irish immigrants brought the tradition with them when they moved to North America, and officers in the Continental Army regularly used the holiday to bring glimmers of cheer to their cold and gloomy camps.

An antique letter, in old-fashioned script, in which George Washington grants Saint Patrick's Day as a holiday to the troops. — A section of George Washington’s general order of March 16, 1780, granting St. Patrick’s Day as a holiday for the troops.
National Archives

‘Till the nation is free’

In Morristown, New Jersey, in 1780, for example, Col. Francis Johnston insisted that “the celebration of (St. Patrick’s) Day should not pass by without having a little rum issued to the troops,” and he bought a small barrel to prove it. Accounts of the party were published in local newspapers.

“The whole army celebrated the day with that decorum which is characteristic of them, and which evidenced their attachment and unfeigned regard to the valiant Irish nation,” said an eyewitness. The soldiers’ dual loyalties to Ireland and America were reflected in the toasts they drank that day.

Cheers were raised for George Washington and “the American army,” but also for Irish patriots such as Henry Grattan and Henry Flood. “May the field pieces of Ireland bellow,” proclaimed one soldier, “till the nation is free.”

As the author of a forthcoming book on the global history of St. Patrick’s Day, the wartime popularity of St. Patrick’s Day does not strike me as surprising. Irish immigrants made up a sizable fraction of George Washington’s Continental Army during the American Revolution, partly because the war came on the heels of the first wave of modern mass migration from Ireland, which lasted from the early 1720s to the mid-1770s.

As a result, Irish newcomers, especially Presbyterians from Ulster, were overrepresented in the Middle Colonies of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and New Jersey when the war broke out. Their disproportionate enlistment accounts for the fact that Pennsylvania’s collection of infantry regiments and companies was nicknamed the “Line of Ireland” during the conflict.

Yet focusing on Irish patriots tells only half the story of what St. Patrick’s Day meant during the Revolutionary War era.

Plenty of Irishmen served as British redcoats throughout the war too.

‘Naturally gallant and loyal’

On March 17, 1779, 2½ years after capturing New York, the British army published a recruiting advertisement in the city’s Royal Gazette newspaper.

A gray-haired man in an 18th-century military jacket. — Francis Rawdon, a British army officer in his mid-20s, organized the Volunteers of Ireland regiment in New York in 1779.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

“All Gentlemen Natives of Ireland are invited to join the Volunteers of Ireland, commanded by their Countryman, Lord Rawdon,” the ad announced. Francis Rawdon, the scion of a wealthy Anglo-Irish Protestant family from County Down in the north of Ireland, was a dynamic army officer in his mid-20s and the perfect figurehead for this new regiment.

Later that evening, these Irish loyalists celebrated St. Patrick’s Day “with their accustomed Hilarity,” noted a local journalist. Lord Rawdon’s Volunteers of Ireland regiment led the way with a parade, followed by a banquet.

“The soldierly Appearance of the men, their Order of March, Hand in Hand, being all NATIVES OF IRELAND, had a striking effect,” gushed the New-York Gazette. Being “naturally gallant and loyal,” the Irish will always “crowd with Ardour to stand forth in the Cause of their King, of their Country, and of real, honest, general Liberty.”

To be Irish in New York in 1779 meant being loyal to the crown. But when the British evacuated New York four years later, they took their red coats – and their loyalist St. Patrick’s Days – with them.

Irish America’s many stories

In time, memories of these pro-British parades and banquets proved unseemly in the fledgling republic. They were subsequently written out of most histories of Irish America. The official website of the world-famous Manhattan St. Patrick’s Day parade, for example, makes no mention of these loyalist processions.

Yet taking a closer look at these forgotten chapters of history is important because it reminds us that there has always been a debate over what it means to truly “be Irish” in America.

In the 1770s, it was a conflict over loyalty to the crown. Today, it can mean disagreements about abortion, gun control or immigrants’ rights.

The truth lies buried in the many stories of Irish America.

Cian T. McMahon received funding for this project through a Hibernian Research Award from the Center for the Study of American Catholicism (CUSHWA).

– ref. Patriots and loyalists both rallied around St. Patrick’s Day during the Revolutionary War – https://theconversation.com/patriots-and-loyalists-both-rallied-around-st-patricks-day-during-the-revolutionary-war-274807

March 11, 2026

Diagnostiquer l’Alzheimer et le Parkinson avant les premiers symptômes : les sons du corps, une piste prometteuse

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Rachel Bouserhal, Associate Professor, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)

Bien avant l’apparition des tremblements ou de la raideur musculaire qui caractérisent la maladie de Parkinson, certains signes plus subtils peuvent déjà se manifester : altérations dans l’articulation des mots, modifications du langage, changements dans la respiration ou la déglutition. De leur côté, les personnes atteintes d’Alzheimer commencent souvent par appauvrir leur vocabulaire et répéter certains mots, bien avant que les pertes de mémoire franches ne deviennent apparentes.

Malheureusement, le diagnostic ne tombe habituellement que lorsque les changements observés chez un individu sont suffisamment importants pour qu’il se démarque du reste de la population.

Cet article fait partie de notre série La Révolution grise. La Conversation vous propose d’analyser sous toutes ses facettes l’impact du vieillissement de l’imposante cohorte des boomers sur notre société, qu’ils transforment depuis leur venue au monde. Manières de se loger, de travailler, de consommer la culture, de s’alimenter, de voyager, de se soigner, de vivre… découvrez avec nous les bouleversements en cours, et à venir.

L’importance du diagnostic précoce

Le diagnostic précoce représente un levier fondamental pour ralentir la progression de ces maladies. Certains traitements sont plus efficaces lorsqu’ils sont administrés aux tout premiers stades. Malheureusement, le diagnostic arrive souvent tardivement, une fois que les symptômes sont bien installés. Cette réalité s’explique notamment par le caractère subtil et variable des signes précoces, mais aussi par une pratique clinique encore largement fondée sur l’observation de manifestations visibles et avancées.

Professeure à l’École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche Marcelle-Gauvreau en suivi multimodal de la santé et détection précoce des maladies, mes recherches portent sur l’utilisation de capteurs portables, en particulier les dispositifs intra-auriculaires, pour capter et analyser des signaux physiologiques et comportementaux liés à la santé. L’objectif est de développer des outils qui permettent un suivi continu, non invasif et personnalisé de l’état de santé, afin de favoriser une détection plus rapide de certaines pathologies, notamment neurodégénératives.

Les technologies portables jouent un rôle clé en neuropsychologie, car elles permettent d’aller bien au-delà de l’observation clinique traditionnelle. Grâce aux capteurs et aux algorithmes avancés, il devient possible de mesurer de façon objective et en temps réel des marqueurs subtils liés au fonctionnement cognitif et émotionnel. Cela ouvre la voie à des pratiques cliniques plus précises et personnalisées, qui complètent l’expertise des cliniciens et favorisent une meilleure compréhension et un meilleur accompagnement des patients.

Chacun de nous est un être unique. Nos capacités cognitives ne sont pas toutes égales à la base. Notre vocabulaire, notre mémoire, notre attention et nos capacités de raisonnement et visuospatiales nous distinguent des autres. Il faudrait pouvoir détecter plus tôt les modifications individuelles afin de percevoir plus rapidement la détérioration du niveau de santé.

Aussi, une approche combinant plusieurs signaux – plutôt qu’un seul paramètre comme le rythme cardiaque – offrirait une vision plus complète de l’évolution de la maladie.

L’oreille : une fenêtre insoupçonnée sur notre santé

Pour détecter ces maladies plus tôt, nous tentons une approche innovante : l’analyse des signaux sonores émis par le corps.

Lorsqu’une oreille est obstruée par un dispositif intra-auriculaire, certains sons internes – battements du cœur, respiration, déglutition, parole, voire clignements des yeux – sont amplifiés dans les basses fréquences. Ce phénomène, appelé effet d’occlusion, peut être exploité à l’aide d’un microphone miniaturisé pour capter ces sons sous forme de signaux subtils. Plusieurs de ces signaux sont particulièrement pertinents, car ils sont affectés dès les premiers stades de maladies neurodégénératives, mais demeurent souvent trop discrets pour être détectés cliniquement.

Par exemple, le rapport entre l’inspiration et l’expiration chez les personnes atteintes de la maladie de Parkinson, ou encore les interactions entre la respiration et la déglutition, sont altérés très tôt, bien avant que les symptômes ne deviennent suffisamment sévères pour être remarqués. De même, les mouvements oculaires des patients atteints de la maladie d’Alzheimer, notamment les saccades, peuvent révéler des informations précieuses sur la progression de la maladie et pourraient être captés grâce à un microphone intra-auriculaire.

Le dispositif que nous utilisons a été développé dans le cadre de la Chaire de recherche industrielle ÉTS-EERS en technologies intra-auriculaires. Il est constitué d’une oreillette équipée de deux microphones et d’un haut-parleur miniaturisé. Le microphone placé à l’intérieur du conduit auditif permet de capturer les sons générés par le corps. Le microphone extérieur et le haut-parleur (situé à l’intérieur) servent à retransmettre les sons extérieurs, afin d’amoindrir l’inconfort créé par l’effet d’occlusion.

Extraire les bons signaux

L’un des principaux défis techniques réside dans la séparation des différents signaux corporels qui sont captés simultanément. En effet, une personne peut parler et entendre son cœur battre, tout cela en même temps.

Pour démêler ces signaux superposés, nous explorons plusieurs approches, notamment l’apprentissage automatique – une forme d’intelligence artificielle – ainsi que des algorithmes de séparation des sources sonores. Nous testons également des technologies complémentaires, comme la photopléthysmographie, qui permet de mesurer les variations du flux sanguin et d’en extraire les battements cardiaques. Ces signaux, tels que la fréquence cardiaque et ses dérivés, sont particulièrement intéressants puisqu’ils offrent une meilleure compréhension de l’état émotionnel d’une personne.

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Nous avons déjà démontré qu’il est possible de détecter le stress à partir de signaux cardiaques captés par un microphone intra-auriculaire, notamment dans des moments de silence et de faible mouvement. Cette perspective est particulièrement pertinente pour les personnes présentant une atteinte cognitive, qui ont souvent des difficultés à comprendre la parole dans le bruit, même en l’absence de perte auditive. Nous souhaitons donc aller au-delà de la simple mesure de leur compréhension de la parole en milieu bruyant, en évaluant également leurs niveaux de stress dans ces situations, afin de déterminer s’ils en ressentent davantage que leurs pairs sans atteinte cognitive.

Actuellement, notre équipe mène deux études distinctes pour comparer les signaux physiologiques de personnes en bonne santé à ceux de patients atteints de troubles neurodégénératifs.

La première, en collaboration avec Parkinson Québec et l’Université de Montréal, porte sur des patients atteints de la maladie de Parkinson et leurs proches aidants. La seconde, menée avec le Centre de recherche Douglas, vise à recueillir des données auprès de personnes saines ainsi que de personnes souffrant de la maladie d’Alzheimer ou de troubles cognitifs légers.

Une révolution en marche

À moyen terme, nous croyons que nos algorithmes pourront détecter avec précision si une personne présente déjà des signes de maladie neurodégénérative.

À plus long terme, notre ambition est de contribuer à une véritable révolution dans le domaine du diagnostic précoce de l’Alzheimer et du Parkinson, permettant ainsi des interventions plus rapides, mieux ciblées et potentiellement plus efficaces.

Rachel Bouserhal a reçu des financements de Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada (CRSNG).

– ref. Diagnostiquer l’Alzheimer et le Parkinson avant les premiers symptômes : les sons du corps, une piste prometteuse – https://theconversation.com/diagnostiquer-lalzheimer-et-le-parkinson-avant-les-premiers-symptomes-les-sons-du-corps-une-piste-prometteuse-263675

March 11, 2026

Face aux dénis de droits en itinérance : soutenir la participation démocratique des personnes marginalisées

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Michel Parazelli, Professeur associé retraité en travail social, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Des violations multiples de droits

Les démantèlements des campements de sans-abri qui aggravent leurs conditions se poursuivent, malgré l’avis de la défenseure fédérale du logement. En 2024, elle exigeait des gouvernements qu’ils respectent les droits et la dignité des personnes résidant dans les campements.
Les pratiques de profilage social des policiers perdurent, malgré la reconnaissance par la Commission des droits de la personne et la jeunesse depuis 2009, que la «stigmatisation des sans-abri dans les normes et règlements de la police et le profilage qui s’ensuit porte atteinte au droit de ces personnes à la sauvegarde de leur
dignité sans discrimination fondée sur la condition sociale.»
Les organismes communautaires souffrent de sous-financement chronique, malgré qu’ils soient les principaux intervenants sur le terrain auprès des sans-abri.

Le recours au privé pour gérer la sécurité publique et la production de logements abordables croît. Or, son modèle économique repose sur la maximisation des profits, ce qui crée un conflit d’intérêts avec la visée d’abordabilité et de pérennité hors marché du logement social].
Le taux de mortalité des personnes en situation d’itinérance a augmenté en 2024, selon le bureau du coroner. Les données montrent que plusieurs décès auraient pu être évités s’il y avait eu des services de santé adaptés.
L’adoption du projet de loi 103, en novembre 2025, même s’il menace les services de consommation supervisée. Une majorité d’acteurs du terrain ont qualifié cette législation de dangereux recul dans la lutte contre la crise des surdoses.

Chacun de ces exemples témoigne d’atteintes aux droits fondamentaux des personnes en situation d’itinérance.

Une gestion inadaptée et des choix politiques aggravants

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D’une prise en charge gestionnaire à une prise en compte citoyenne

Un autre constat issu de ce rapport met en lumière l’exclusion des personnes en situation d’itinérance des décisions qui les concernent.

Soutenir l’organisation de collectifs

– ref. Face aux dénis de droits en itinérance : soutenir la participation démocratique des personnes marginalisées – https://theconversation.com/face-aux-denis-de-droits-en-itinerance-soutenir-la-participation-democratique-des-personnes-marginalisees-272411

March 11, 2026

Power cuts are the new normal in Kenya – what went wrong and how to fix it

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Peter Twesigye, Research Lead: Power Market Reforms and Regulation, University of Cape Town

Millions of Kenyan households and businesses have been subjected to interruptions of electricity supply since late 2024 owing to production shortfalls. President William Ruto acknowledged this, explaining that “daily load-shedding” had become necessary and that power would be switched off in some areas between 5pm and 10pm to stabilise the national grid.

Until now, Kenya’s electricity supply has been mostly adequate to meet supply. However, there were multiple nationwide blackouts between 2020 and 2024. These disruptions were due to technical failures rather than unmet demand.

The uncomfortable truth is that Kenya’s demand surge is testing the limits of what grid engineers call “firm and operationally available capacity”. This is what can be counted on when the evening peak demand rises sharply, stretching the system’s ability to maintain frequency and voltage within limits.

By the end of January 2026, the published system peak was 2,439.06 MW compared to firm capacity of 2,495 MW. There was a narrow reserve margin of only 2.3%. This peak was recorded on 4 December 2025, and was framed by Kenya Power itself as a historic high.

Kenya has a reserve of nearly 800 MW on paper, but only about 56 MW of breathing room on firm capacity. This is a razor-thin margin for a system that must ride over:

transmission constraints such as transformer overloads due to unexpected demand spikes and equipment failure
inadequate generation forces for dispatchable baseload, from post-sunset loss of solar output of 514 MW and at times wind of 436 MW with low capacity factors
limited flexibility to support timely ramping (how fast the rest of the system must move up or down when a generation unit trips).

My research focus is power market reforms, regulation and utility performance – including Kenya’s. My assessment is that Kenya’s power sector is not short of renewable energy resources to exploit. It is short of capital and a well-planned procurement pipeline of investments in new power plants and grid resilience.

Policy makers have to do more to keep up with an economy whose peak demand now resets with unsettling frequency, affecting businesses and home users.

Kenya’s optimum outcome is not simply higher installed megawatt capacity. It is the combined effect of:

sufficient energy capacity
the system’s capacity to meet fluctuating demand, changes in generation output and unexpected outages
ability to operate, refurbish and maintain the grid network to meet set technical regulatory standards.

How did supply fall behind demand?

Three structural drivers explain the current crisis.

First, no new interconnected power plants have been commissioned during the past four years. Kenya’s new capacity pipeline was constrained by a moratorium on new plants imposed in 2021. The moratorium was only lifted in December 2025 by the National Assembly, reopening the door to new procurement via competitive auctions.

Second, peak demand growth accelerated over the same time period. In February 2025, for instance, peak demand grew by the largest margin in five years. This growth was driven mainly by industrial and commercial users, a growing fleet of electric vehicles, new data centres, and an aggressive domestic power connectivity programme.

The utility surpassed 10 million customers with over 401,848 new connections in the year to 30 June 2025. This resurgence translates into a growth in sales to 11,403 GWh in just one financial year, 2024/25. The result was that a planning problem became an operational one. The mass connectivity programme stepped up over the past eight years is a triumph as the country rushes to achieve universal electrification goals. But it is also the core demand-side force compressing reserve margins.

The third factor that’s affected the power network is that industrial and commercial consumers are increasingly financing their own supply. Instead of waiting for grid reliability to improve, firms have been building their own dedicated power plants. By June 2025, so-called captive (self-consumption) capacity reached 603.8 MW (about 15.72% of total installed capacity), dominated by captive solar PV and bioenergy.

While these are cheaper and more reliable sources, they are not failure-free and also serve to mask the growing national deficit.

Furthermore, this trend complicates system planning because Kenya Power’s revenue base and load profile become less predictable, leading to system imbalances and frequent outages.

What’s behind the instability of Kenya’s electricity grid?

Kenya’s energy mix is renewables-led. Renewable energy stands at 80% of the energy mix and has been steadily rising over the last 10 years.

The largest technology shares are: geothermal 943 MW (25.92%), hydro 872.5 MW (23.9%), solar 514.1 MW (14.1%), wind 436 MW (11.9%), and bioenergy 163.8 MW. The country also imports electricity from Ethiopia and Uganda, accounting for 10.6% of the total.

This picture shows why system flexibility and network reliability are key. When solar and wind power aren’t available, the system must turn to geothermal, hydro and thermal while maintaining reserves.

With firm capacity only modestly above the latest peak, even a single contingency can force controlled load-shedding to preserve system integrity.

Kenya’s grid instability is not one problem, however. Network reliability is undermined by system leakages from unbilled or stolen energy. In 2025, average annual losses amounted to 23.36% – far above the regulator’s allowable benchmark of 17.5%. Reliability is improving, but still a far cry from best practice.

Another major factor is inadequate transmission infrastructure, primarily its high-voltage transmission lines. This means that Kenya also needs to massively invest in expanding its transmission system. Indeed, the power transmission monopoly – Ketraco – warns in its 2025-2044 master plan that keeping up with demand growth requires a multi-billion-dollar buildout. It points to an estimated financing gap of roughly US$4.38 billion across planned transmission investments.

What’s needed

Four options stand out for consideration.

The first is rebuilding the pipeline of new power plants. The quickest reliability gains will come from adding new low-carbon capacity from geothermal rehabilitation and new gas units. Policymakers must also ensure adequate extra generation capacity to provide power within seconds or minutes to cover a likely generation failure or demand spike.

Second, the system needs modern flexibility tools, such as battery storage, gas and imports. This is because storage and grid-stability investments can improve system flexibility and reduce the need for load-shedding when supply from renewables dips during peak demand.

Third, private capital participation is unavoidable if the grid is to stay ahead of demand. The most concrete step so far is the transmission monopoly’s US$311 million (KES 40.4 billion) public-private partnership signed in December 2025 with Africa50 and Power Grid Corporation of India.

Finally, stability depends on addressing system losses. This can be achieved by scaling up smart metering, restructuring distribution lines, and reducing vandalism and illegal connections. This can translate into added capacity.

Peter Twesigye does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Power cuts are the new normal in Kenya – what went wrong and how to fix it – https://theconversation.com/power-cuts-are-the-new-normal-in-kenya-what-went-wrong-and-how-to-fix-it-276611

March 11, 2026

Crocodiles can have extra growth cycles in a year – why this matters for estimating the age of dinosaurs

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, Professor, Biological Sciences Department, University of Cape Town

In biology and palaeontology (the study of extinct organisms) there are a few ways to estimate the age of an animal’s skeleton. One is the extent of fusion of sutures in the skeleton – how much the plates of bone have joined together as the animal matured. Another is the texture of the bone surfaces. Then there are growth marks recorded in the microscopic structure of bone.

Many modern animals grow in periodic spurts (fast at times, slowly at other times). It’s generally thought that they grow fast in the good seasons when the environment is better for them in terms of food, temperature and water. They are thought to grow more slowly during unfavourable seasons, when the growth marks form in their bones, rather like the rings formed in trees. By counting the number of growth marks inside the bone tissues, scientists estimate the age of the animal. This method is called skeletochronology.

Over the years there have been a few studies that have determined when the different growth cycles formed, and have proposed the utility of skeletochronology for age determination.

The application of skeletochronology has been particularly important in working out the age of extinct reptiles like dinosaurs. It’s also been used as the basis for constructing graphs showing how the animal grew over time and comparing the rate of growth of different dinosaurs. This is very useful when trying to assess how extinct animals (like dinosaurs) grew up, and in some cases reached gigantic proportions.

Our work in our palaeobiology laboratory at the University of Cape Town has shown that juvenile (wild and captive) caimans, American reptiles related to crocodiles and alligators, under one year of age showed growth marks in their bones. This was unexpected because the animals were too young to show annual periods of quick and slow growth.

This study by our team suggested there was a need for a more cautious approach to estimating the age of skeletons. This caution was reinforced by similar findings in our later work on Nile crocodiles.

More growth marks than expected

Our work on the Nile crocodiles began as an investigation into their growth dynamics. On three occasions we administered antibiotics to two-year-old crocodiles at the Le Bonheur Reptiles and Adventures farm, about 60km from Cape Town in South Africa. These antibiotics became incorporated into the bones of the growing crocodiles.

Later, when the crocodiles died, we skeletonised the carcasses and prepared thin sections of their bones which we examined under the microscope. The antibiotic markers allowed us to deduce how much bone growth had occurred in specific time periods.

Much to our surprise, we found that aside from a slowdown in growth during the unfavourable (winter) season, extra growth marks formed during the favourable (summer) season when fast growth was expected. These extra growth marks tell us that the crocodile responded to some environmental factors (perhaps temperature, rainfall, or competition) by slowing down their growth and forming a growth ring.

We found that the two-year-old crocodiles had as many as five or six growth cycles in their bones. We would have expected only one per year. This meant that if we applied skeletochronology, we would have overestimated the age of the crocodiles. Until now, most of the time when skeletochronology was applied, the concern has been about under-estimating the age of the animal (because growth marks are sometimes removed during normal growth processes).

Questions about method of establishing bone age

Our study of these living relatives of dinosaurs raises questions regarding the accuracy of using skeletochronology for estimating the age of dinosaurs. We know the four crocodiles were raised on a crocodile farm, which perhaps does not ideally reflect their a natural environment. But we are also aware that on the farm, they would have had optimal conditions for growth – and yet, under these ideal circumstances, they formed extra marks.

Currently investigations into dinosaur skeletochronology are plagued by several issues such as the presence of multiple closely spaced growth marks that are difficult to separate out, as well as some growth marks that cannot be followed around the whole circumference of the cross section of the bone. Added to this, we suggest that since living relatives of dinosaurs (birds and crocodiles) can form extra growth marks, some of the growth marks in dinosaur bones could well be “extra” and therefore unrelated to their age.

More research is clearly needed to investigate this matter. An obvious first step is to undertake a similar study of crocodiles and alligators in the wild – a feat easier said than done.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Crocodiles can have extra growth cycles in a year – why this matters for estimating the age of dinosaurs – https://theconversation.com/crocodiles-can-have-extra-growth-cycles-in-a-year-why-this-matters-for-estimating-the-age-of-dinosaurs-276077

March 11, 2026

Universities survived Trump’s 2025 funding freeze, but the money still isn’t flowing to researchers

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Brendan Cantwell, Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, Michigan State University

Columbia University, seen in June 2025, is one of the schools that made a deal with the Trump administration last year in order to avoid losing funding. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Several prominent universities, including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, made headlines in 2025 in a dizzying back-and-forth with the federal government. The Trump administration cut large amounts of research funding to universities. Some pushed back, and others hatched settlements to get the money restored.

So how have these confrontations between higher education and the White House played out over the past year, now that they have dropped out of the spotlight?

Amy Lieberman, education editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Brendan Cantwell, a scholar of higher education at Michigan State University, to understand how the Trump administration is adopting a more subtle tactic to block funding to universities.

Where does Trump’s attempt to withdraw funding from universities stand?

Several universities entered into settlements with the Trump administration in 2025 – including the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Cornell University, Northwestern University and Brown University – to restore research funding the government pulled. We don’t really know how those deals are being enforced. They appear to be working, in the sense that the government has not complained and the schools have received the targeted funding that the government canceled.

In another case, Harvard University never entered into a deal with the Trump administration and instead sued the government in April 2025 to block a US$2.7 billion funding freeze. Federal courts restored Harvard’s funding, but we don’t have a lot of specific knowledge on how this funding was restored. The government appealed this ruling in December 2025.

In October, the administration also proposed an agreement, called the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, that would provide funding advantages for universities that agreed to change their admissions practices to cap the percentage of international students that they enroll, among other policy shifts.

There was almost universal skepticism and condemnation of this deal among schools, and it fell apart, aside from a few small schools not initially invited that said they would sign on.

A man walks and holds a sign that says 'Harvard thank you for your courage!!' — Cambridge, Mass., resident Casey Wenz stands outside Harvard Yard in April 2025 to express support for Harvard University in its legal battle against the Trump administration.
Sydney Roth/Anadolu via Getty Images

What is your research focused on right now?

I am thinking about how the administration is shifting from making targeted deals with universities and more toward using legislative and rule-making processes to achieve its goals.

These deals with universities in 2025 were really unusual. I think they are going to become less and less effective for the administration, as they face losses in court. Universities have also realized that they could not agree to a deal with the administration and still prevail.

Now, we are seeing the administration impose its priorities in other ways, in part through President Donald Trump’s 2025 big tax and spending cuts and new rules at the Department of Education. This approach retains the Trump administration’s ideological preferences, but uses more normal routes.

Are they placing more limits on research funding, or what is the goal?

The Trump administration in 2025 wanted to reduce funding dramatically to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation – and to NASA, in particular. Congress rejected those requests and instead produced what was essentially a level funding picture for university research.

What isn’t clear is how much of the money appropriated by Congress is going to make its way into new grants for research. Much of the funding that Congress appropriated, so far, has not been released.

We know that in 2025, federal agencies made fewer grants than in past years. The grants the government did make tended to be a bit larger, and winning a grant became more competitive. This approach gives the administration more flexibility in funding the kinds of projects that it prefers.

In my assessment, it seems likely that the government will do the same again this year. The administration may also attempt to withhold a portion of the money that Congress appropriated for scientific research.

Over the course of the year, we are going to see how this plays out. Is the administration just dragging its feet, using whatever administrative levers it has to slow-walk things? Or, is it going to attempt to divert research funding to other priorities and now spend it in a way that Congress did not appropriate? We don’t really know. I do know that universities and scientific research organizations are very concerned about this possibility.

If this money doesn’t start to flow, we probably will see legal challenges from universities and scientific organizations.

How long does it take for delayed funding to become evident in research?

The effects are almost immediate and then build over time.

Some of the grants we expected to be awarded in the first two months of the year have not been awarded. In 2025, thousands of grants were canceled and some agencies made up to 25% fewer grants than they had awarded in prior years.

As the year goes on, unless the pace of awards increases, we can expect the total amount of money that goes out to researchers to be even lower than it was in 2025.

This is the bottom line: Congress continues to fund research, but all money is not making its way to researchers.

What does it look like as the Trump administration shifts its tactics?

One of the ways the administration seems like it will go after universities is by making it harder for students to qualify for student loans. The tax and spending cuts bill, for example, put caps on federal student loan borrowing at the graduate level.

This is more of a normal conservative idea; that the availability of student loans has encouraged universities to offer more low-quality programs at the undergraduate and graduate level which don’t help students. I think these conservative ideas with some mainstream appeal may be the focus of the administration moving forward, in addition to administrative foot-dragging.

Overall, I think that we may see less of these big, direct confrontations between the Trump administration and universities. It worked in the sense that they got some initial concessions from universities, but it is not really clear if those concessions amounted to a major victory for the administration.

The political boundaries of research are also becoming narrower. You can’t do climate research and expect to get federal funding right now.

I think that the federal government is going to continue to restrict money from universities. There is going to be this persistent, progressive shrinking of research funding. But the administration has either not been willing or able to impose a sudden collapse of university funding and bring schools to their knees.

Brendan Cantwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Universities survived Trump’s 2025 funding freeze, but the money still isn’t flowing to researchers – https://theconversation.com/universities-survived-trumps-2025-funding-freeze-but-the-money-still-isnt-flowing-to-researchers-277716

March 11, 2026

Generative AI can play a role uplifting family and community in early childhood education

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Andres Bustamante, Associate Professor of Education, University of California, Irvine

Use of generative artificial intelligence technology is already widespread in K-12 schools and higher education. Now, AI technologies such as conversational agents and tablet-based assessments are starting to make their way toward early childhood education.

One concern with AI in a prekindergarten setting is that the technology will replace or disrupt the rich interactions and deep relational bonds between children and their caregivers. Another worry is that AI systems will reproduce discrimination related to race, gender and socioeconomic status, which could reinforce stereotypes and biases.

What if, instead, this technology was used to uplift marginalized voices rather than silence them?

We are part of a team of developmental psychologists, learning scientists, early childhood educators and community leaders creating AI-based tools designed to enrich caregiver-child interactions. Instead of replacing parents, we use technology to involve them in the creation of educational material, allowing them to bring their lived experience to their child’s learning.

Early childhood education research shows that children engage more deeply and learn more effectively when learning environments build on their experiences and connect to their families’ cultural practices. Our work with generative AI builds on a larger set of research projects where we codesign early learning spaces with children and families.

Culture in early learning

Many technologies marginalize low-income, immigrant and racially minoritized families in their children’s education. Our work is designed to do the opposite: amplify the voices of families and empower them to be the drivers of their children’s learning.

It is grounded in a long-term partnership between the University of California Irvine School of Education and the Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative, or SAELI, a grassroots community organization focused on early education led by over 300 families in Santa Ana, California, a predominately Latino community.

In a recent project, we partnered with researchers from UC Irvine, Harvard and University of Michigan to design e-books with families from SAELI and En Nuestra Lengua, a nonprofit that runs early education programs for Spanish speakers in Michigan. We convened families in Santa Ana and Michigan and supported them in using generative AI to produce content that serves as a “first draft” of an educational e-book.

For example, families in our sessions talked about how their children use technology to stay connected to grandparents who still live in their home countries. That theme inspired a group of parents to write a story – by writing a series of prompts into ChatGPT using a laptop – about a young boy who video-chats with his grandfather in Mexico to learn how to grow corn. Parents also used an AI image generator to produce concept art for the stories.

AI-generated image of older Latin American man talking with grandson via video chat — Using generative AI tool ChatGPT, a parent produced a draft story about a boy talking with his grandfather in Mexico and an image to illustrate it. Then an artist used the draft image as a starting point for artwork for an e-book.
Andres S. Bustamente, CC BY-ND

After families reviewed the images, they highlighted the reasons they liked certain parts and disliked others and revised the prompts to make images that represented their ideas. Our team revised the stories, connected them with pre-K science learning standards and then collaborated with a visual artist, Ernesto Domecq Menéndez, who used the AI-generated images as inspiration for the books’ illustrations.

As part of another story, families noted that AI-generated content can reflect a common assumption in the U.S. – that “Latino” means “Mexican.” In response, families emphasized the diversity of Latin America by using generative AI to create a story about children from different countries who explore the science of cooking as they share family recipes for gorditas, arepas and pupusas. To an untrained eye the dishes look similar, but the families highlighted the distinct ingredients, preparation techniques and meanings behind each one. We worked with the families to tweak the AI prompt until they were happy with the story draft output.

Taken together, these examples show how pairing community collaboration with AI tools can create early educational content that reflects families’ experiences – and represent them the way they want to be seen. When children and families see themselves and their communities represented in STEM learning experiences, it can foster positive identity and self-efficacy in STEM domains.

AI as a conversational partner in learning

This project builds on previous work that integrated AI conversational agents, such as Siri or Alexa, into children’s media so the main character of the story can ask children questions to reinforce learning.

We are embedding the same technology in these e-books so the characters in the story can ask children questions at key learning moments and engage in back-and-forth conversation to reinforce the big science learning goals.

This approach builds on a long history of developmental research that shows strategically placed questions during book reading lead to increased learning and improve children’s language skills.

Learning and connection in the community

We have also applied this approach in a community health clinic. In an ongoing project, we are partnering with SAELI families and researchers from UC Irvine, Boston College and University of Illinois Chicago to incorporate playful learning activities into the waiting rooms at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

In codesign sessions with families and providers, one of the main themes that emerged was the desire to build a strong sense of community at the clinic. One family suggested we design a “chismografo,” or a shared “gossip notebook,” that was popular in Latin America in the 1990s and early 2000s. In those sessions, providers also shared tensions of wanting to be able to connect with families and build a relationship but also needing to minimize wait times.

In response, we plan to use a simple AI platform to prompt families waiting to see their pediatrician to dictate into a tablet the ways they cook, play and relax before bedtime. The AI will summarize the information families share and create artifacts like badges that can be displayed on a clinic “chismografo” so families can learn about each other.

The AI will also provide a summary to the pediatrician so they can learn something about the family and engage in conversation around nutrition, physical activity and sleep routines that build from families’ everyday practices. In this way, AI is used as a tool to enhance communication and connection between families and providers.

Customizing and scaling up

While the examples provided here are unique to the communities that designed them, and might not resonate in the same way in other places, AI offers a platform for educators and families to create their own resources and experiences.

This approach addresses a major tension in education research – cocreating educational resources with the people they are intended for enhances usability, meaningfulness and effectiveness. However, when you customize or adapt a resource for a specific community or population, it can become less usable in other places. Generative AI can be used to continuously design and adapt early learning resources, customizing them for different communities.

Critically, this work is best done in partnerships between families, educators, early learning researchers, artists and technology designers whose collective expertise leads to products that none of them could have made on their own.

The research referenced in this article was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program Award #2415882 and the Heising-Simons Foundation Award #2024-5105.

Aria Gastón-Panthaki does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Generative AI can play a role uplifting family and community in early childhood education – https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-can-play-a-role-uplifting-family-and-community-in-early-childhood-education-272237